Playing Baseball
with a
Pocket Knife

H.H. Windsor:  The Boy Mechanic, Popular Mechanics Press, Chicago, 1913 page 250

     An interesting game of baseball can be played by two persons with a common pocket knife on a rainy day or in the winter time when the regular game cannot be played outdoors. The knife is opened and loosely stuck into a board, as in Fig. 1, and with a quick upward movement of the forefinger is is thrown into the air to fall and land in one of the positions shown. The plays are determined by the position of the knife after the fall.
Knife Positions
Positions of the Knife Indicate the Plays
     A foul ball is indicated by Fig. 2, the knife resting on its back. The small blade sticking in the board which holds the handle in an upright position, as shown in Fig. 3, calls for a home run. Both blades sticking in the board (Fig. 4), a three-base hit. A two-base hit is made when the large blade sticks in the board, Fig. 5. A one-base hit is secured when the large blade and the end of the handle touch the board as in Fig. 6. The knife falling on its side (Fig. 7) calls for one out. Each person play until three outs have been made, then the other plays, and so on for nine innings.

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